Already eliminated Portugal produced their best display of the tournament in the final match of the pool phase, stunning Fiji 24-23 in Pool C at the Stadium de Toulouse.

Fiji knew a win would see them advance in second place in the group and eliminate Australia for the first time at a Rugby World Cup pool stage.

Things did not go to script, but a losing bonus point picked up by Fiji was crucial in seeing them progress.

The sides were level at the break at 3-3 in Toulouse but the contest came alive in the second half when Raffaele Storti’s try gave Portugal an unexpected lead.

It only lasted three minutes as Levani Botia replied for Fiji, but during a crazy spell of play Portugal hit the front again in the 51^st minute through a Francisco Fernandes try, as they took advantage of Botia being sin-binned for a dangerous tackle.

Mesake Doge scored a try for Fiji to level the scores again in the 68^th minute, before two penalties in the final ten minutes from Frank Lomani gave the Flying Fijians a six-point advantage.

The surprise twist came in the 78^th minute when Rodrigo Marta scored a try, which was crucially converted by Samuel Marques to give Portugal a lead they held on to during the final phase of play to earn a first ever Rugby World Cup triumph.

Despite their loss, Fiji advance to the quarter-finals where they will play England, who struggled to an 18-17 victory over Samoa in their final pool match yesterday.

The final quarter-final spot was decided by a winner-takes-all clash in Pool D between Argentina and Japan, played at the Stade de la Beaujoire in Nantes.

Argentina won an eventful contest 39-27, to set up a last-eight meeting with Wales.

The Pumas took the lead in the second minute after a try from Santiago Chocobares before a try by Amato Fakatava levelled for Japan.

Mateo Carreras scored the first of his hat-trick of tries just before the half-hour mark, before Naoto Saito went over the tryline just before the interval, as Argentina took a 15-14 lead into the dressing rooms.

Carreras demonstrated high-quality footwork to go over for his second try in the 46^th minute before Emiliano Boffelli went over the tryline to give Argentina breathing space.

In an entertaining contest, Japan kept coming with Jone Naikabula scoring their third try in the 65^th minute, before Carreras bounced off tacklers to score his third try three minutes later and seal the win.

Pride and their first points of the tournament were on the line in the day’s other pool match between already eliminated Tonga and Romania in Pool B at Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Lille.

Tonga, four places above their opponents in the world rankings ran in seven tries, including a brace from Solomone Kata, on their way to a 45-24 win.

The first two quarter-finals are scheduled to be held on Saturday (October 14), with Wales taking on Argentina in Marseille, before Ireland face New Zealand in Paris.